SOIL 85 



(4) That in the presence of a sufficient amount of nitrates in the 

 soil, variations in the growth of the plant are caused by the amounts of 

 the salts in the soil other than nitrates." 



At the Minnesota Station, *Snyder found that the composition of 

 corn fodder varies with the conditions under which it is produced. 

 Fodder grown on manured land contained 8.85 per cent protein, while 

 that from unmanured ground contained but 6.32 per cent. The im- 

 portance of this is readily seen when it is remembered that "high 

 grade corn fodder is more valuable than the best grade of timothy 

 hay, while corn fodder grown on poor unmanured soil that has re- 

 ceived poor cultivation, where the crop has not been properly cared 

 for and the leaves are lost, has about the same feeding value as straw." 



HOG BARN, WITH LITTEE CABBIEE DEPOSITING MANURE IN RACK, TO KEEP THE STOCK 

 FROM TRAMPLING IT IN THE MUD ABOUT THE LOT. 



CONTINUOUS GROWING OF CORN. A glance at the history 

 of those agricultural regions of America which have proved to be par- 

 ticularly well adapted to some one "money" crop, reveals a reckless 

 disregard for the original fertility of the soil. In each of these districts, 

 the one crop has been raised on the same ground continuously, until 

 much of the soil has been greatly depleted. The impoverished cotton 

 and tobacco lands of the south, the wheat lands of the northwest, which 

 now produce but a fraction of the yields that they once did, and the 

 run-down farms so numerous throughout the corn belt, all stand as a 

 reproach to the wasteful cropping systems followed. 



The continuous growing of a single crop upon the same land year 

 after year causes 



*15th Bi. Report Kansas Station, Boord of i> griculture, Page 8ft5. 

 (4) 



